1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing method which are capable of printing characters of a desired size on a print medium while feeding the print medium contained therein.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, printing apparatuses are widely known which print characters of desired sizes on a print medium, such as a tape, for producing labels. In these printing apparatuses, when characters in horizontal writing in which characters are arranged in horizontal or lateral rows as in ordinary alphabetical writing are printed such that the direction of length of each character string is parallel to the direction of feed of the tape, the size of printable characters and the number of rows of characters corresponding to the size of printable characters are predetermined according to the width of the tape. Therefore, naturally, if the size of characters is increased, the number of printable rows of the characters is reduced, whereas if the size of characters is decreased, the number of printable rows of the characters is increased. That is, each print line width depends on the width of the tape and the size of characters.
Now, as shown in FIG. 19, tapes produced by the above printing apparatuses are sometimes affixed to paper, such as notebook paper or the like, which is provided with ruled lines at intervals of a space (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cruled line spacingxe2x80x9d) defined by a predetermined standard. In such a case, however, the print line width on the tape and the ruled line spacing on the notebook are rarely coincident with each other, resulting in the degraded appearance of the page bearing the tape, and further, for instance, when the user desires to enter notes in association with data printed on the tape, he often has to write characters across the ruled lines, which makes it difficult to add the notes to the page.
To eliminate the above inconveniences, an attempt can be made to cause the print line width on the tape to coincide with the ruled line spacing of the ruled lines on the notebook. However, the print line width depends on the tape width and the size of characters, as described above. Therefore, this necessitates a troublesome and time-consuming work of calculating back an appropriate tape width and character size from the ruled line spacing of the notebook. Moreover, actually, it is required to allow for a margin (interlinear spacing defined as a spacing between adjacent concatenations of character bodies in a direction perpendicular to a direction of extension of character strings), and hence it is very difficult to cause the print line width on the tape to coincide with the ruled line spacing of the notebook.
It is an object of the invention to provide a printing apparatus and a printing method which are capable of setting a print line width on a tape such that the print line width is adapted to the ruled line spacing defined by a predetermined standard.
To attain the above object, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a printing apparatus which is capable of printing characters of a desired size on a print medium while feeding the print medium contained therein.
The printing apparatus according to the first aspect of the invention is characterized by comprising:
print line width-setting means for setting a print line width such that the print line width is adapted to a ruled line spacing defined by a predetermined standard; and
printing means for printing the characters in the print line width set by the print line width-setting means.
To attain the above object, according to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a printing method of printing characters of a desired size, comprising the steps of:
setting a print line width such that the print line width is adapted to a ruled line spacing defined by a predetermined standard; and
printing the characters in the set print line width.
According to these printing apparatus and printing method, it is possible to set the print line width on a print medium in a manner adapting the print line width to a ruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standard so as to print the characters within the print line width set by the print line width-setting means. Therefore, for instance, when the print medium printed with the characters is affixed to a ruled sheet of a notebook, the print line width of the print medium and the ruled line spacing of the ruled sheet match each other, thereby making it possible to cause the resulting ruled sheet to have an attractive appearance. Also when notes or memos are entered to comment on contents printed on the print medium, the characters can be prevented from being written across the ruled lines on the notebook since the print line width on the print medium and the ruled line spacing on his notebook match each other. This enables the user to make the contents of the notebook orderly and attractive.
It should be noted that the term xe2x80x9cprint line widthxe2x80x9d is used throughout the specification and appended claims to represent a width occupied or to be occupied by a line of characters printed or to be printed on a print medium. It is not required that the line is actually printed on the print medium. The term xe2x80x9cruled line spacingxe2x80x9d is used throughout the specification and appended claims to mean a distance from one ruled line to the next, in other words, a width or height of a section defined by a pair of ruled lines adjacent to each other. Further, the term xe2x80x9cruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standardxe2x80x9d is used to mean any of various ruled line spacings, such as xe2x80x9c7 mm for Ruled lines A (ordinary horizontal ruled line)xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9c6 mm for Ruled lines B (medium horizontal ruled line)xe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9c5 mm for Ruled lines C (thin horizontal ruled line)xe2x80x9d defined by Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) as well as ruled line spacings defined by the organization standard of xe2x80x9cJapanese Paper Product Industry Associationxe2x80x9d. Further, when there are standards on Ruled lines defined by the government of a country or a corporation, ruled line spacings defined by the standards as well are included in the category of the above xe2x80x9cruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standardxe2x80x9d.
Preferably, the print line width-setting means includes means for setting the print line width not by designating a numerical value but by designating a type of the ruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standard.
Preferably, the step of setting a print line width includes the step of setting the print line width not by designating a numerical value but by designating a type of the ruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standard.
According to these preferred embodiments, the print line width is set not by designating a numerical value but by designating a type of ruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standard. More specifically, the print line width can be set not by designating a numerical value, such as xe2x80x9c7 mmxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c6 mmxe2x80x9d, but by designating a type of ruled line spacing, such as xe2x80x9cRuled lines A (ordinary horizontal ruled line)xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cRuled lines B (medium horizontal ruled line)xe2x80x9d in JIS, and hence when it is desired to cause the print line width of the print medium to match the ruled line spacing of the xe2x80x9cRuled lines Axe2x80x9d, the print line width can be set with ease even if the size of the ruled line spacing of the xe2x80x9cRuled lines Axe2x80x9d is unknown to the user.
Preferably, the print line width-setting means includes means for designating a size of one print line width as an integral multiple of one ruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standard.
Preferably, the step of setting a print line width includes the step of designating a size of one print line width as an integral multiple of one ruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standard.
According to these preferred embodiments, it is possible to set the size of a width of one print line to an integral multiple of one ruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standard. Therefore, for instance, when a large characters size is desired to be set, if a ruled line spacing three times as large as one ruled line spacing on a notebook is designated, one print line width on the print medium matches or corresponds to three ruled line spacings on the notebook, whereby the object article can have an attractive appearance after the print medium is affixed thereto.
Preferably, the printing apparatus further comprises printing direction-setting means for setting a direction of printing of the characters and a direction of length of print lines of the characters.
Preferably, the printing method further comprises the step of setting a direction of printing of the characters and a direction of length of print lines of the characters.
More preferably, the printing direction-setting means includes means for setting the direction of printing such that an upward direction with respect to the characters coincides with a direction of feed of the print medium, and at the same time the direction of length of print lines is orthogonal to the direction of feed of the print medium.
More preferably, the printing direction-setting means includes means for setting the direction of printing such that an upward direction with respect to the characters and the direction of length of print lines are orthogonal to the direction of feed of the print medium.
According to these preferred embodiments, it is possible to set the direction of printing of the characters and the direction of length of print lines of the characters. More specifically, when the character strings in horizontal writing are printed, the direction of printing the same is set such that an upward direction with respect to the characters coincides with the direction of feed of the print medium and a direction of length of the print lines is orthogonal to the direction of feed of the print medium, whereas when the character strings in vertical writing in which the characters are arranged in vertical rows or columns as in writing in the Japanese language are printed, the direction of printing the same is set such that the upward direction with respect to the characters and the direction of length of the print lines are orthogonal to the direction of feed of the print medium, whereby if the print medium is not limited in size in the direction of feed thereof, the number of lines of the character strings can be increased unlimitedly. Therefore, by changing the direction of printing of characters in accordance with print images and the number of lines to be printed, it is possible to form a print having a size desired by the user, whereby the versatility of the printing apparatus is enhanced.
Preferably, the printing apparatus further comprises character size designation means for designating a size of one character.
According to this preferred embodiment, since the size of characters can be designated, it is possible to create a visually impactful print e.g. by emphasizing part of a print image by large character sizes as desired.
Preferably, assuming that straight lines with reference to which the character strings are arranged in a direction of length of print lines and which extend in parallel with the direction of length of print lines are defined as reference lines, with a distance between adjacent ones of the reference lines being represented by a and the ruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standard being represented b, the character size designation means includes means for designating the size of the character such that a value of axc3x97m (m is an integer equal to or larger than 1) and a value of bxc3x97n (n is an integer equal to or larger than 1) are equal to each other.
According to this preferred embodiment, assuming that straight lines with reference to which the character strings are arranged in a direction of length of print lines and which extend in parallel with the direction of length of print lines are defined as reference lines, it is possible to designate the size of the character such that the value of axc3x97m and the value of bxc3x97n are equal to each other. Accordingly, for instance, if the distance a between the reference lines is equal to 3 mm, and the size b of the one ruled line spacing is equal to 7 mm, the common multiples of the distance a and the size b are 21, 42, . . . . In the case of 21 as one of the values thus obtained, for instance, (the case in which the product of axc3x97m and that of bxc3x97n are equal to 21), the value of m and the value of n are equal to 7 and 3, respectively. This means that it is possible to designate a character size such that seven rows of character strings can be printed within the three ruled line spacings. Inversely, if two rows of character strings are designated to be printed within the five ruled line spacings with the one ruled line spacing being equal to 7 mm, it is possible to designate a character size such that the distance a between the reference lines is equal to 17.5 mm (a=bxc3x97{fraction (5/2)}). In short, it is possible to minimize mismatching between the ruled line spacing and the print line width as well as freely set the size of characters, thereby enhancing the appearance of an article to which the print is affixed.
It should be noted that in the above case, it is preferred that the character size is determined such that the characters are laid out with appropriate space (interlinear spacing defined as a spacing between adjacent concatenations of character bodies in a direction perpendicular to a direction of extension of character strings) with respect to the distance a between the reference lines. This configuration makes it possible to eliminate inconveniences e.g. that it becomes difficult to read letters when they are printed with narrow interlinear spacing.
More preferably, assuming that either a vertical size or a lateral size of the character designated by the character size designation means is k times (k is a number truncated to an integer) as large as the ruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standard, the print line width-setting means includes means for setting a number of lines occupied by the characters to (k+1).
According to this preferred embodiment, when the vertical size or lateral size of one character designated by the character size designation means is k times as large as the ruled line spacing defined by the predetermined standard, it is possible to set the number of print lines occupied by characters to (k+1). Now, let it be assumed, for instance, that the size of the characters in horizontal writing is designated to be point size 20 with the vertical size thereof being 13 mm, and that the character size is adjusted to the xe2x80x9cRuled lines A (7 mm)xe2x80x9d. In this case, the vertical size 13 mm of the characters is 1.857 . . . times as large as the size 7 mm of the one ruled line spacing, and hence an integer xe2x80x9c2xe2x80x9d which is obtained by adding 1 to an integer 1 to which the number 1.857 . . . is truncated by dropping the fractional portion of the number below the decimal point, is set to the number of print lines to be occupied by the characters. In short, the characters can be printed within an integral multiple of one ruled line spacing, to whatever size the characters may be set, and hence it is possible to affix the print to an article without deviation from alignment (mismatching), whereby the article having the print affixed thereto has an attractive appearance.
Further, in the above case, it is preferred that the difference 1 mm obtained by subtracting the vertical size 13 mm of the characters from the size 14 mm of the two ruled line spacings is allocated to upper and lower portions of interlinear spacing such that the upper and lower portions have an equal width of 0.5 mm. According to this configuration, the article having the print affixed thereto can have a more attractive appearance.
Preferably, the printing apparatus further comprises storage means for storing a plurality of character data converted from the characters and storing grouping data for classifying the plurality of character data into at least one group, and group selection means for selecting one group from the at least one group, and the printing means prints characters corresponding to the plurality of character data belonging to the one group selected by the group selection means.
According to this preferred embodiment, the printing apparatus stores a plurality of character data converted from the characters and grouping data for classifying the plurality of character data into at least one group. Further, the printing apparatus selects one group from the at least one group to print characters corresponding to the plurality of character data belonging to the one group. Therefore, for instance, when the personal names of students belonging to several classes are stored as character data, and the names of the classes are stored as grouping data in a manner correlated with the character data, if one of the classes is designated, the personal names of the students of the class are printed. That is, since the character data are grouped, it is possible to designate only a necessary group to print only character data belonging to the group.
It should be noted that the term xe2x80x9cgrouping dataxe2x80x9d indicates data required for grouping character data, such as character data stored in groups, and xe2x80x9cidentifiersxe2x80x9d for classifying character data into groups which are used in cases where different xe2x80x9cidentifiersxe2x80x9d indicative of respective groups are added to individual character data for classification of the individual character data into the groups.
Preferably, the printing apparatus further comprises printing order-changing means for changing an order of printing of the plurality of character data according to a predetermined order rule, and the printing means prints characters according to the order of printing changed by the printing order-changing means.
According to this preferred embodiment, it is possible to change the order of printing of the plurality of character data according to the predetermined order rule to print characters according to the changed order rule. Therefore, when the plurality of character data are indicative of the names of students, and the predetermined order rule is xe2x80x9calphabetical orderxe2x80x9d, the names of the plurality of students can be re-arranged in xe2x80x9calphabetical orderxe2x80x9d for printing. In short, the plurality of character data stored at random can be printed in the order desired by the user.
It should be note that the term xe2x80x9cpredetermined order rulexe2x80x9d is used herein to mean xe2x80x9crule for determining a sequence of items entered as character data based on a certain element of each itemxe2x80x9d, such as the above xe2x80x9calphabetical orderxe2x80x9d as well as xe2x80x9corder of birth datesxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9corder of scored marks (e.g. as a result of an examination)xe2x80x9d, etc. depending on details of character data.
More preferably, the storage means further includes means for storing discriminative data for discriminating between the plurality of character data in a manner correlating the discriminative data with each of the character data, and the printing means determines for each of the character data whether or not characters corresponding thereto should be printed, depending on details of or presence or absence of the discriminative data correlated with each of the character data.
According to this preferred embodiment, it is possible to store discriminative data for discriminating between the plurality of character data in a manner correlating the discriminative data with each of the character data items, and determine as to each character data whether or not corresponding characters should be printed, depending on details of or presence or absence of the discriminative data correlated with the character data. Accordingly, for instance, assuming that the plurality of character data are data of the names of students, and the discriminative data for discriminating between the character data are the names of classes, it is possible to determine, for instance, whether or not discriminative data correlated with the data of the name of each student is xe2x80x9cClass Axe2x80x9d, and print the name of a student only when the discriminative data correlated with the data of the name of the student is xe2x80x9cClass Axe2x80x9d. In short, it is possible to discriminate between character data items for printing.
Further, for instance, assuming that the plurality of character data are data of the names of students, and the discriminative data is data indicative whether or not each student belongs to a sports club (e.g. data of xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d set when an student belongs to any of the sports clubs, and data of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cabsence of the discriminative dataxe2x80x9d set when he does not belong to any of the sports clubs), it is possible to print e.g. the names of students on condition that the discriminative data correlated to the data of the name of each student is xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d indicating that the student does not belong to any of the sports clubs or the discriminative data is absent. This means that it is possible to extract and print only character data having contents desired by the user.
Further preferably, the printing apparatus further comprises input means capable of inputting at least one of the character data, the grouping data and the discriminative data, and the data input by the input means are stored in the storage means.
According to this preferred embodiment, at least one of the character data, the grouping data, and the discriminative data can be entered for storage. Therefore, it is possible to input, for instance, the names of the user""s friends as the character data, the names of schools as the grouping data correlated with each of the character data items (names of the user""s friends), and symbols only for boy students as the discriminative data. Further, the above entered data can be stored in the printing apparatus. In short, character data, grouping data, and discriminative data can be input and stored according to the user""s needs.
Preferably, the printing means includes means for printing the plurality of character data in a list form.
According to this preferred embodiment, plurality of character data can be confirmed rapidly since they can be printed in a list.
Preferably, the print medium is formed by an image-receiving layer serving as a printing surface, an adhesive layer formed on a side reverse thereto, and a peel layer formed on the adhesive layer, the print medium being affixable to an object article by peeling off the image-receiving layer and the adhesive layer from the peel layer.
According to this preferred embodiment, the print medium is formed by an image-receiving layer serving as a printing surface, an adhesive layer formed on a reverse side thereof, and a peel layer formed on the reverse side of the adhesive layer, so that a produced print (image-receiving layer) can be affixed to the object article with ease simply by peeling off the image-receiving layer and the adhesive layer from the peel layer.
More preferably, the printing apparatus further comprises cutting means for cutting off the print medium to a desired size, and object article size-designating means for designating a size of the object article to which the print medium is affixed, and the cutting means cuts off the print medium to a size permitting the print medium to be affixed to the size designated by the object article size-designating means.
According to this preferred embodiment, it is possible to cut off the print medium to a size permitting the print medium to be affixed to the object article of the designated size. Therefore, for instance, assuming that the size of the object article is designated to Size 1 (A4: vertical size 297 mmxc3x97lateral size 210 mm), it is possible to cut off the print medium to a size (e.g. vertical size 280 mmxc3x97lateral size 190 mm) smaller than the Size 1. This means that the print medium can be cut off such that it can be received within the object article.
It should be noted that when the size of the object article is designated, only one of the vertical and lateral sizes thereof may be designated. Further, the size of the object article may be designated to sizes, such as xe2x80x9cSize 1 (A4)xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cSize 3 (A5)xe2x80x9d and so forth, as defined by JIS or any other standard, or alternatively the vertical and lateral lengths of the object article may be designated by directly inputting numerical values thereof respectively.
More preferably, the print medium is made of a material having high transparency.
According to this preferred embodiment, the print medium is made of a material having high transparency, so that when the print medium is affixed to the object article, the ruled lines on the object article can be seen through the print medium. This makes it possible to make use of the ruled lines as they are. Further, if a transparent and colorless print medium is employed, is possible to make the affixed print medium inconspicuous.
Preferably, the print medium is a tape-shaped member.
According to this preferred embodiment, since the print medium is a tape-shaped member, it can be used in the tape printing apparatus, and convenient in producing labels and the like. Further, if a roll of the tape-shaped member is contained in the printing apparatus, the apparatus can be made compact in construction.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.